Joey Reiman has been wishing upon stars since he was a just a kid living in Manhattan.

His parents told Reiman, now the CEO and founder of the west Midtown-based company BrightHouse, he must either become a doctor or a lawyer.

“They said, ‘Listen, we expect you to be a neurosurgeon or a Supreme Court justice. We prefer the doctor but if you’re a little slow, a lawyer,’” said Reiman at the Buckhead Business Association’s annual luncheon Thursday at the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead. “They sent me off and I was secretly wishing upon many stars. Every night I’d pray, ‘Please don’t send me to law school.’”

Then, Reiman said he decided to write a script, called “RSVP,” and sent it to two foreign directors, including Federico Fellini of Rome, Italy, who called for him to come.

“I received the letter from Fellini. I called my parents; they hung up,” he said. “They eventually came around to see me off. I had scraped together about $200 and stayed on the K deck level. I basically went to Genoa in a submarine. But I got there intact with my dream.”

He soon found out his job would be making espresso for Fellini, however, he was surrounded by royalty and famous directors.

“The entire universe was actually my partner in making a dream come true right before my eyes,” he said.

Reiman said the four parts of basically every story are: The “Once Upon a Time” part, the “Suddenly” moment, the “Luckily” moment and the “Happily Ever After” part.

His Suddenly moment in Rome was a car accident, which was quickly followed by a new relationship with a minister while he was in the hospital – his Luckily moment.

“He talked to me about the power of ideas, the power of thinking, the power of purpose, about light and about the stars,” he said. “Anything that attracts us to light or the light inside our hearts is Godly. He talked to me about this notion of taking any idea you have and surrounding it with actions and action people.”

He said it is important for a person to remember to stay away from people telling him or her they cannot do something.

“We need yes people again in a society that’s really banked on a misery loves company going public,” he said.

Association member Kay Wolbert said she enjoyed Reiman’s speech and felt inspired.

Reiman’s most recent book, “The Story of Purpose,” delves into his belief system about everyone finding their individual purpose.

“I didn’t come up with purpose,” Reiman said. “It goes back to a guy named Aristotle. He said where our gifts intercept with the needs of the world, there lies our ‘voca,’ which is Latin for ‘calling,’ your purpose. There lies every one of your gifts and the needs of the world, your path, your genuine happiness and your authenticity.”

He said when one finds purpose, he or she also finds emotional, intellectual and financial profit.

“We’re not making a living. We’re making a loving,” he said. “And if we love our careers or business, we have something that Aristotle would’ve loved, called callings.”

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